A girl named Elastika

A simple yet very creative stop-motion short about a girl made of rubber bands traveling on a pinboard.

Is it possible to tell a funny and intriguing story only using an elastic band and some pins? Guillame Blanchet showed us that’s something that can be achieved, with this brilliant stop-motion short.

Elastika is a young, curious girl that’s full of life. She’s always dreamed of traveling the world, and one day she decides to leave for a long adventure that will lead her to the pyramids, on the Las Vegas strip, on a boat in the middle of a sea-storm and even in space. Her reckless driving will cause disasters of all kind, her boat will be destroyed by a fire, her every move causes damages everywhere, but nothing will stop her enthusiasm.

This short seems to be the tangible proof that sometimes less is truly more. If you have inventiveness, creativity – and lots of patience – you don’t need big budgets to create interesting works. As perfectly explained by Michel Gondry in “Be Kind Rewind”, a film’s simplicity can turn into an advantage, cause when something is transparent and easy to understand, it’s more easy for viewers to identify with it.

The director (who became an internet sensation a couple years ago, after releasing a stop-motion shortdocumenting his life on his bike) chose not to animate anthropomorphic objects, using everyday things a sort to challenge to push his creativeness further. The result is truly original, fun e rich in details – don’t miss the faux making-of gag reel during the end credits! Who would’ve thought that we would be able to get excited about the adventures of a rubber band on a pinboard?